Appeal No. 97-0695
Application No. 08/273,466
In view of the above, it is our determination that all
the limitations of claim 3 are met by the combined teachings
of Janssen and Ager.
Dependent claim 4 adds to claim 3 the limitation that
the step of forming barbs includes a step of making
a plurality of cuts in at least one row, each cut
being formed as herringbone, pointing backwardly
away from said handle end that is adapted to be
inserted in an opening in said pad.
The appellants argue (brief, pp. 19-20) that "[n]either
reference has such a herringbone design whereas the applicants
device does meet the definition of a herringbone." We do not
agree. As pointed out by the examiner (answer, p. 7), the row
of barbs shown in the appellants' drawings do not display a
true herringbone configuration since the direction of the
slant does not alternate row by row. This is due to the fact
that the appellants' barbs are chevron-shaped cuts
(specification, p. 7). Since the barbs 17 as shown in Figure
4 of Ager are also formed by chevron-shaped cuts, it is our
determination that it would have been obvious to one of
15
Page: Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007